Fishenthusiast's 30 Gallon Planted Odyssey

[fishenthusiast]

I haven’t been able to update this journal as much as I’d like to, but the tank is going through a few small changes. My Java Ferns have become diseased with a gall-like disease that causes the leaves and rhizome to get wart-like green bumps. These galls cause the leaves to slowly die, and after some time, the plant dies as a result of poor growth. I can’t trace where the diseased fern came from that infected all of my ferns. As a result of all of this, I removed all of the ferns, cleaned the driftwood, and siphoned the top part of the substrate. My hope is that all of the diseased material is out of the tank. I will be having a tank with a lot of Echinodorus in the background. I have Amazon Swords, Green Ozelot Swords, Dwarf Amazon Swords, and a Red Rubin Sword coming in the mail. With proper trimming, they will not take over my tank, and will still add a jungle feel. All of the Anubias and Buce will stay in the tank. I will have some Windelov Java Fern, but it will be the only fern that I will have for now so I can observe if the disease reemerges or not. That way, if the disease comes back, it wouldn’t be a huge loss. If the disease doesn’t come back, I can purchase some more ferns in the summer or late spring. I will also go back to the Crypt parva heavy foreground that I used to have. The Micro Sword experiment failed, but I know Crypt parva grows well in this tank (3 pots are on the way).

 

[DTWGulo]

Crazy sometimes how much alteration a tank can go through just due to one small variable changing. The plan sounds pretty good, IMHO.

I don't know if a UV sterilizer would help in a case like this. I run them on my tanks, but I know a lot of planted tank people don't. They don't report more problems than I've seen in my own tanks so I'm not sure it even helps.

Have you had to do a lot of root-level fertilizing with that many swords/crypts in your tank?

 

[fishenthusiast]

Crazy sometimes how much alteration a tank can go through just due to one small variable changing. The plan sounds pretty good, IMHO.



I don't know if a UV sterilizer would help in a case like this. I run them on my tanks, but I know a lot of planted tank people don't. They don't report more problems than I've seen in my own tanks so I'm not sure it even helps.



Have you had to do a lot of root-level fertilizing with that many swords/crypts in your tank?

I’m not sure if a UV sterilizer would aid in anything, but I do have one that I could run for a few days just for the heck of it. I used to have algae blooms a couple years back, so I always have it in reserve in case of emergency. The weird thing about Java Fern galls is that it is hard to find concrete info on it. All of the info that I’ve found on it is from forums, so I have to take it with a grain a salt. I’ve even searched through scientific articles and have yet to find anything of note.

There will be root tab supplementation for sure. I once had an almost 50% Amazon Sword tank coverage when I started out. In fact, I found a picture of it in the archives of my phone:

The tank was planted up yesterday night. Will post updated pictures in a few days.

 

[Fresh2o]

^^^^ I remember this tank. Is this the one with the threadfin Rainbows? This was during my early high tech days.

 

[fishenthusiast]

^^^^ I remember this tank. Is this the one with the threadfin Rainbows? This was during my early high tech days.

Yes, and to this day, Threadfin Rainbows remain one of my favorite fish. I’m not sure they liked my local water parameters though. They weren’t very long lived.

 

[fishenthusiast]

I’m not sure if a UV sterilizer would aid in anything, but I do have one that I could run for a few days just for the heck of it. I used to have algae blooms a couple years back, so I always have it in reserve in case of emergency. The weird thing about Java Fern galls is that it is hard to find concrete info on it. All of the info that I’ve found on it is from forums, so I have to take it with a grain a salt. I’ve even searched through scientific articles and have yet to find anything of note.

There will be root tab supplementation for sure. I once had an almost 50% Amazon Sword tank coverage when I started out. In fact, I found a picture of it in the archives of my phone:

The tank was planted up yesterday night. Will post updated pictures in a few days.

Updated tank pics:

Bucephalandra sp. Kedagang Japan

The newly bought swords are small at the the moment, but they should get bigger in time. I definitely need more foreground plants, but I think I’ll hold off until the summer to do anything to the tank in terms of additions (fish and plants).

 

[DTWGulo]

Looks great! Those are some robust Buce; hugely jealous! Mine are growing so danged slowly. Drives me nuts. Really nice job on the rescape. Can't wait to see how it grows in!